Low Carb PB & J Thumbprint Cookies

It may seem strange to some of you that I’d be posting a low carb cookie recipe now, when binging on cookies and other naughty foods lately is what probably got you back to low carb in the first place. Isn’t January for denial and self-deprivation to punish ourselves for all the bad things we ate in the last few months?

Not in my book! Enjoying delicious food (including cookies) AND losing weight is one of the perks of low carb and keto eating – and what IBIH is all about.

Steeling ourselves for the misery of dieting after we packed on a few pounds is part of the unbalanced thinking that got us here in the first place! Food should be fun – even when we’re trying to lose weight. And if we can maintain a balanced view of food long term, then we won’t find ourselves binging during times of celebration – and then punishing ourselves with deprivation for weeks afterwards to make up for it.

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That’s why my first recipe post of the new year is for these yummy (and easy!) low carb cookies! Because delicious cookies can, and should, be a part of any sustainable eating plan!

I made a batch of these keto cookies as a test last week and was really happy with the results, so I took a few photos and called it a day. These are super filling and taste like a real peanut butter and jelly sandwich! I ended up eating two of these low carb cookies every morning with my coffee and stayed full until lunch time.

There’s really no downside here, amiright?

Now I have always preferred strawberry preserves on my peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, so that’s what I used here – but you could really use any sugar free preserves in this keto peanut butter thumbprint cookie recipe.

I also used crunchy peanut butter because it reminds me of my childhood and I like the texture – but you can use smooth if you prefer it! Just be sure that you use as natural a peanut butter as possible and check the label to be sure there is no added sugar in it!

Instructions

Combine all of the cookie ingredients except for the jelly in a medium sized bowl. Stir well until fully combined. Roll into twenty 1 inch balls and place on a parchment covered cookie sheet. Press a well into the center of each cookie with your thumb. Place about 1/2 tsp of jelly in each center. Bake in a preheated 350 degree (F) oven for 11 minutes. Don’t bake too long or they’ll dry out.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

I tried it, but cut recipe in half. Not sure where I went wrong. They are so dry, they crumble at the touch. I followed directions to a T, did not overbake. They seemed dry when I put them in the oven. The only change I made was a dab of chocolate instead of jelly. Where did I go wrong?

Can you make these with almond butter in staid of peanut butter? And can you skip the artificial sweetener? I don’t eat sugar or artificial sweeteners but I don’t really need treats to be very sweet since my sense of “sweet” seems to have changed since I stopped lol.

I LOVE this recipe! I just started the keto diet and found it really tough to cut out all sugars and carbs…then I found these cookies! I made them as per your recipe…I did the math and came out to 4 net carbs per cookie…I ate a little to many hahaha! So I made them again tonight and I used a few modifications…I use half almond butter and half peanut butter (natural of course)…I used MLO dietary fiber ad my sweetener which is .5 net carbs per 5g…so I cut it down to 105g instead of 1 and 1/3 cups…I also used almond flour instead of coconut flour (really only 1g carb difference)…I also skipped the jam and just used a fork to squish the “good Ole fashion peanut butter cookie marks” into them…I have 24 DELICIOUS peanut/almond butter cookies at (ready for this??) 2g net carbs per cookies!!!!! I am going to continue to try new things each time I make these…they are AMAZING!!! thank you for such an amazing low carb treat 💖

I made these today and they were a hit. The erythritol was still grainy after baking, but that isn’t a big deal. I only had 1 cup of Laura Scudder’s Nutty peanut butter, so I drained the oil off some creamy MaraNatha almond butter and used the firmest stuff from the bottom of the jar to make up for it. I didn’t have sugar free jam, so I left most of the prints empty. I put dark chocolate in a few so they might resemble my junk food junkie boyfriend’s favorite candy and he said they were really good.

These were amazing. Probably one of the best things I’ve eaten ever, even gluten-sugar free. When I made the batch of 20 they turned out to be HUGE! I was thinking at the time I could have made 40 easily, cut the carbs in half per bite, especially when AT FIRST try I plugged in the recipe to http://www.caloriecount.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php and got a whopping 16 grams of carbs per cookie! AFTER the heart attack and TWO hours later let me share the result. The lowest and I mean the lowest in what ended up being a hand/calorie count calculation based on the actual labels I got the NET carb (carb – fiber) to 5.9 ( I do not subtract sugars), but NET NET (carb – fiber – sugars) 3.8. Only if you make 40 will this recipe ever get to 3 net carbs and I’ll say this when you fill in any recipe be DILLIGENT on the brands and the calculation because foods that ‘enter’ into the equation from these sites may have the right ‘brand’ name and the wrong numbers. Even though I try to stick to brands recommended (and buy from the sponsors on sites like this so that these bloggers/master chef’s can get the kick back without any impact to your price because they do all the work), I always check because I try to stick to NET 20 carbs a day and a 6 carb cookie throws me off for the day. If you can consume 50 carbs it is another story and if you are on ATKINS induction you CANNOT eat these cookies. Just try to cut them in half like I did today and just try to eat half the cookie. It is impossible. Maybe when you make 40 and you can then eat a whole one, half of the original recipe.

I want to give some quick notes on my calculation of TWO hours: PB is not the mitigating factor here other than it carries the bulk of the carbs. Results for 1 ounce (28 grams or 2 tablespoons) across the board: Skippy Extra Crunch normal = 6 carbs – 2 fiber = 4, Joseph’s Sugar Free = 6 carbs – 1 Fiber = 5, Raw peanuts = 5 carbs – 2 Fiber = 3, Dry roasted = 6.1 carbs – 2.3 Fiber = 3.8. So the variance isn’t there. The variance can also come in the ‘jam’. I make raspberry or strawberry with chia seeds (chia adds .1 carb net to the recipe). I found the variance comes in using sweeteners. BE CAREFUL on caloriecount.com and any site and use your label if you have to because it caused the 16 carb read on the first try and with the actual product label brought the total down to 5.9. I used Xylitol and their website says you should exclude the carbs completely. It is 4 carbs per teaspoon, 0 fiber, 0 sugars and 4 Xylitol. Seems like hokus pokus to me, but when you take it out completely you can get down to 3.5 NET (carb – fiber) or 1.4 NET NET (carb – fiber – sugars). (Note: the interesting part here is seeing how low one can go on eliminating the sweetener in the recipe to drop the count versus using it and excluding it). I only used 1.25 cups, but I think I could have gone much lower. Half a cup maybe? 3/4? Don’t know yet.

I don’t recommend exclusion altogether because to be honest at 1.4 NET NET carbs I could eat 10 of these a day and I do not believe I would be able to lose weight, that the science of metabolism has to be around a bit longer and has to be monitored by the individual to be exact.

Bottom line I love these cookies, I will savor them and make them all the time forever and ever.

Wow, that was a LOT – thanks for taking the time to break down your process!!! It’s been awhile and I couldn’t find my notes on this recipe yet, but I’m pretty sure I used Smucker’s all natural peanut butter which is just peanuts and salt, and Polaner all fruit sugar free plus fiber jelly. I also used erythritol as my sweetener which has 0 net carbs. I made a couple of notes in the recipe to reflect some of that and ensure that people know to use sugar free peanut butter – something I’d do now but wasn’t as conscious of back then! Always learning and improving and I appreciate your feedback! Glad you enjoyed them too!

You’re very welcome. I do have a quick question for you, if I do cut the sweetener in half would I then need to add in some extra coconut flour? Or something to compensate for the reduction in this key ingredient? What would you recommend? I’m also going to try filling the thumbprint with sugar free chocolate Nutella! I may need a 12 step program to stop!

These are the first sugar free peanut butter cookie that my ATKINS husband has liked. Others I have made were a lot dryer and he hated them — to the extent that he really questioned if I should try another recipe. Thanks for bringing back the joy of peanut butter cookies!!

I stalk your blog and have been for several months now. I just had to try this recipe being how I had two sugar free disaster recipes (from other blogs) that I had tried over the holidays. I needed to find something I could redeem myself to help convince my family that sugar free doesn’t mean it tastes bad. This are sure to do the trick! I am gonna bake these for new year’s to impress them! I just made these and I really feel like this recipe is fool-proof. I read previous comments about wanting a more firmer cookie texture so I actually added a tbsp of unflavored whey protein powder, I made it eggless by using 2 tbsp of flax mixed with 6 tbsp of water and I was running out of my crunchy natural peanut butter (trader joe brand) so I was only able to put 3/4 c of peanut butter and I substituted the rest with almond butter. I also substituted 2 tsp plus 10 drops of stevia glycerite instead of the swerve. I was probably most excited to use a new sugar free peach jam I bought from Sprouts last week. It was perfect for this recipe. Thank you so much for sharing and saving my holiday sugar free baked goods nightmares! I tried rating the recipe 5 stars but it won’t highlight the stars on my phone for some reason.

Just came to say how much I love these cookies. I make them every few weeks, and fill them with some raspberry preserves I make by cooking down frozen berries with swerve. I make about 34 cookies out of each batch, to spread out the calories a bit more. And I find by baking them on a silpat on a light-coloured aluminum pan for closer to 16 mins they come out cookie crunchy.

These are fantastic. I needed to use up a jar of almond butter. I drained the oil & halved the recipe added more coconut flour for a very firm dough. I got 23 cookies. I used a small ice cream scoop & weight each cookie at 18 to 20 grams before filling them with a kumquat lowcarb marmalade. Baked for 15 mins. Crunchy delicious. Thank you so much for sharing & the contribution of others to tweak this fab addition to my baking.. Lina Raffa

These cookies are fabulous!!! Like Lori I like a crispier cookie so I added an extra tablespoon of coconut flour and baked for 15 minutes. They are a bit crispier but not hard. Love them!! Thanks so much for giving me a low carb dessert that’s tastes awesome!!

I made these and agree the flavor is great, love them with coffee in the morning and they are very filling. I only wish they were more cookie like and less soft & chewy. I’m going to experiment this weekend by eliminating one egg and/or adding more coconut flour. Maybe that will give them more of a cookie consistency. I even played with the time in the oven and temperature…no luck. Any suggestions?

More coconut flour may make them crisper – the type of peanut butter you are using can also make a difference. If your peanut butter is really soft and spreadable you might try using a firmer all natural peanut butter to get a firmer texture in your cookie. Let us know if playing around with the egg to flour ratio yields good results!

It’s not that they specifically label peanut butter as sugar free usually, but some of the commercial brands do have added sugar so it’s best to look for an “all natural” peanut butter made with just peanuts and salt!

I love that you posted a cookie recipe after the New Year- I completely agree with your thoughts on being able to enjoy treats responsibly all year long!

And these look awesome! I am currently doing the 21 Day Sugar Detox, as my December sweets were definitely NOT low-carb and I want to reset my taste buds, but I definitely want to make these after I’m done!

HI There! (This may be a duplicate, I tried commenting on my phone but it didn’t show up) What brand of peanut butter do you use? I’d love to try and make these but want to make sure I use the right kind of peanut butter…

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My name is Mellissa Sevigny, and I use my culinary powers for good here at IBIH by creating delicious and satisfying low carb & keto recipes. If you’re looking to lose weight, feel amazing, AND eat some of the best food you’ve ever tasted – you’ve come to the right place. Welcome! Dig deeper →